


After the Battle of Endor

by iippo



Category: Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Aroace Luke Skywalker, Aromantic Luke, Aromantic Luke Skywalker, Asexual Luke, Asexual Luke Skywalker, Bonding, Force-Sensitive Leia Organa, Gen, Self-Discovery, Sibling Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-13
Updated: 2018-02-13
Packaged: 2019-03-17 20:40:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13666890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iippo/pseuds/iippo
Summary: Luke and Leia get to know each other as brother and sister. Set directly after Return Of The Jedi.Not Luke/Leia.





	After the Battle of Endor

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the AroAce Luke Skywalker fic-drive, based on a prompt from an anon on Tumblr: "Some times after they find out the whole sibling thing, Luke and Leia are having a quiet bonding moment, and talk about personal things from their childhood. They also talk about Han, and how he is super hot, and Luke goes like “Yeah, I never understood how you can say that about people, maybe you can explain?”, and Leia is like “Say, could it be that you’re ace?”, and Luke goes “Oh, that makes sense, thanks.” Or something along these lines."

In Bright Tree Village on the forest moon of Endor, the celebration for destroying the Death Star II had wound down for the night several hours ago - though a sleepily mumbled song fractions of "yub nub" could still be heard coming from a few huts. It was dark and warm all around. 

Leia Organa was not feeling sleepy, and she could feel that her brother ( _how strange and yet so strangely familiar that pair of words was in her mind!_ ) was also still awake. She reached for him with her thoughts, unsure quite how it worked, if indeed it did. 

"Luke? Can you hear me?" she sent out the thought, silently, which was fortunate as she would feel less foolish this way if it didn't work. 

"I can hear you Leia, is everything okay?" Her brother's voice seemed to be coming from inside her head, more like a feeling or a thought than a sound. 

"Wow, telepathy," she thought to herself - or at least she thought she did until Luke replied with a chuckle "yeah, that'll take some getting used to, huh?" 

"I'll say," Leia laughed too. "Would you be up for a regular face-to-face chat? I'll give myself a headache with all these brain transmissions." Luke could feel his sister rolling her eyes, and agreed to come up. 

Leia met him at the door of the hut the Ewoks had provided for her, and they settled on the floor with some leftover berries and nuts in a bowl between them. For a moment they just stared at each other, studying the other's face; searching for clues and finding family. 

Luke was the first to look down and break the silence. 

"He... Father... wanted me to tell you that it was true: that there was good left in him. He died a Jedi, not a Sith." 

He glanced at Leia but this time she was looking down. "Leia?"

After a pregnant pause Leia spoke: "I understand you were raised by your uncle and aunt" - it was a question but it wasn't a question, so Luke simply nodded quietly and waited for her to continue - "but all my life I had a father, in Bail Organa." She looked up to meet his eyes. "I don't think I can replace his memory with that of _Darth Vader._ " Her eyes were pleading with him to understand. 

As much as he desperately wanted someone to go through his feelings about his father with, Luke did understand. "No one could replace the memory of you father," he said softly, "and I wouldn't ask you to think that way." 

He continued: "But if it helps, Ben thought of them, Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader, as two different people. He told me Vader had killed my father, and in a way it was true - almost. But Anakin Skywalker managed to overcome Vader before the very end." He thought for a while. "In a sense, you never met him, our father."

Leia thought about it for a while, and then spoke. "I think that works. I mean, I always knew I was adopted, it wasn't a secret. And I never really cared either way about finding out who my biological parents were. I never expected to meet them, and I reckoned it didn't matter even if I did; that it wouldn't change anything." She looked at Luke again. "I guess that wasn't exactly true." 

"But it hasn't changed who you really are," Luke said emphatically. "You are still Princess Leia of Alderaan." 

"Hasn't it changed who you are?" Leia asked, giving Luke a mischievous but piercing glance. 

Luke laughed. "Fair point. I am now The Last Jedi, not just Luke Skywalker the moisture farmer. Though I think for me it feels more like... so many things make sense now. This is who I have always been, now I simply understand why I am the way I am."

Leia shifted to a more comfortable position, popped a chooca nut in her mouth and bit into it with a crack. "Like what?" she asked - unladylike - between bites. 

"Well like the flying, and always being so restless, wanting to get away from Tatooine... I just feel like these things connect me to him." Luke hoped he was making sense. 

Leia watched him tenderly as he spoke. "What was it like growing up on your uncle's farm?" Her voice was soft and had a dream-like quality to the question, like a child wanting to hear stories from far-flung places. 

He shrugged. "It was... just normal life. Work work work, never get to go to Tosche station because you have to work some more. Sand and droids and womp rats... What was it like growing up as a princess?" He turned the question to her, equally eagerly longing to hear the stories of royal life.

Leia chuckled. "Believe it or not, it was its own kind of normal. I had to attend to my royal education from early on to be ready to take on royal duties, and then it was duties duties duties and I also never got to go to Tosche station."

"I'll take you there some time and you'll see you didn't miss much," Luke said with a toothy grin, but it soon melted off his face as he saw Leia's expression, which was like a cloud had settled directly overhead her. It only took him a second to realise which turn her thoughts had taken: he could take her to the places of his past, but she couldn't do the same for him. 

"What was Alderaan like?" he asked softy. 

Leia sighed deep. It had been only 4 years and the pain hadn't gone anywhere - but it had changed from a searing torture to a dull heavy ache that sighing deeply seemed to lift ever so slightly. "It was the planet of beauty," she started, her eyes glistening but her spirit soaring as she continued. "Alderaan was known for our culture and free education; all topics of study and research were celebrated. Which was also why I found the princess training so inane." Her spark was back. 

"What exactly did it entail then?" Luke asked. "I really will not accept it was worse than moisture farming in a desert." 

"It was mostly about how to look prim and proper, how to be quiet, and how to catch a husband," Leia said, and Luke could almost see the sparks flying off of her. 

"I bet you did great in those topics," Luke said, holding back laughter. Leia rolled her eyes. Apparently having a brother was exactly like it was described: annoying and foolish. "At least you got that last bit sorted now," Luke added mischievously. 

But that sort of teasing didn't work on Leia; she had never been coy or embarrassed about matters of love or even sex. Her education in this field had been matter-of-fact and open-minded towards difference: everything from different alien customs and anatomy to the diversity of attraction and modes of relationships had been covered. She had found it an interesting subject - albeit taught dryly. "Yes," she demurred, "Han and I are not going to wait around - we're getting married here, on this moon." 

But Leia realised that Luke had accidentally revealed a mortal weakness - one she intended to exploit mercilessly. "What about you, saw any cute Stormtroopers up there? Or anyone in the party tonight caught your eye? I think I saw a couple of the Ewoks eyeing you..." Her eyes had that sparkle again. 

"Any Ewoks eyeing me were probably just hungry," Luke said. Leia was a little confused by how deftly he dodged the teasing - in her experience even light innuendo like that should have brought an inexperienced farm boy down a couple notches, or at least give some color to his cheeks. Must be that Jedi training of his. Unless backstories were deceiving. 

"Did you date a lot when you were younger," Leia decided to go for the direct tell-me-about-your-life -route. She took another chooca nut. 

"No, I've never done that," Luke replied. "I've never been in love." His thoughts turned to his father again. 

Leia felt the shift in his mood. "What's wrong?" She asked. 

"I..." Luke hesitated. He wanted to talk to Leia. It was so easy to talk to Leia. He decided to go for it. 

"What if that's why... What if I can't love because of who my father was. What if he couldn't love and that's why he fell to the dark side?" He looked at her, uncomfortable and nervous. 

Leia didn't need all her years of training in diplomacy to understand this was a moment to tread carefully. The wrong word or trivializing teasing (no matter how well-intentioned) could make or break an entire aspect of their newly-found sibling relationship. 

"Now I don't know much about the Dark Side of the Force," she started, "but I have a hard time believing you can't love." Luke sat looking at the floor. She continued: "I've seen you work in the alliance and love is one of the most powerful forces in the resistance. And I'm sure you loved your aunt and uncle. I'm... I'm also sure you love me," she finished, looking him in the eyes as he lifted his gaze to meet hers. 

"Well sure but I mean real love, like you and Han," Luke said. 

"Love is love, there is no form of love that is more or less real than another" Leia spoke gently but firmly. "But do you mean you don't want to kiss or date anybody? You have never felt romantic love for anybody?" She specified.

"Yeah, that's right." Luke answered. "It's like there is something wrong with me." 

"But... not feeling romantic love is a perfectly common experience, loads of people in the galaxy are aromantic," Leia said, slightly astonished that Luke didn't know this but also almost panicking as the realization dawned on her: her brother had never known his orientation. She wondered how long he had carried these feelings of being broken. 

Luke couldn't even form a surprised exclamation, his thoughts were racing ahead of him so fast: It wasn't a problem. He wasn't broken. There were other people who were the same way. He sat on the floor mouth slightly agape, looking away from his sister. 

"What about sex," Leia asked, doing her best of projecting a casual air of 'just adults having a regular conversation' - this time hoping against hope she wouldn't cause any kind of feelings of embarrassment. "Do you feel attracted to anybody sexually?" 

"I... I don't know, isn't that the same thing as being in love with somebody?" Luke asked, his cheeks getting a slightly pink tinge. 

"Not at all, you can like sex without love being a part of it," Leia assured him. "And some people aren't interested in sex at all, others don't feel sexual attraction towards other people, some people are repulsed by sex," she continued listing the possibilities. 

"Hmm, well, I don't think I've ever felt any kind of attraction to anyone - other than friendship, I mean," Luke mused out loud. He was lost in his thoughts, thinking back on his life in light of all these new revelations: the uncomfortable encounters where he had somehow accidentally disappointed someone who had seemed so nice; the new friendships that had unraveled when his friendship hadn't been enough for the other person... 

"Well, that could mean that you are asexual and aromantic - though, there is a lot of terminology out there that describe different kinds of experiences," Leia said, trying to figure out how Luke was feeling about all this. And to her astonishment she _could_ feel it - or at least sense it in some way. 

"I can feel how you are feeling!" Leia exclaimed in surprise. Luke re-focused on Leia and saw her excited expression. "Luke, I... It's incredible!" 

His face also broke into a huge grin. "Pretty cool, huh?" He said. 

"No-- I mean yes the ability is also incredible -- but I am so happy for you -- and so thankful that I get to share this moment with you -- and to experience how you are feeling about it and--" Leia could barely express herself, she was so overwhelmed by emotion. 

And Luke could sense all of it too, how she was feeling, and he was amazed at the depth of the experience. With most people he could only get a basic sense of their strongest feeling - usually fear or anger, or the nervousness that comes when people lie - but with Leia, he could get a much more nuanced sense of her emotions. He wondered if that was because of their close bond, or because he was still quite inexperienced as a Jedi. He realised that not only would he need to teach Leia how to use the Force, he would also need to learn a lot from her.

They could do this - together.


End file.
